A Challenging Spring

Though most crops are doing pretty well, this Spring has been fairly challenging.  Everyone knows winter stuck around a little later than usual, and that we’ve had both extremely hot and dry weather and very cold and wet weather.  But the steady drumbeat of violent rain events over the last two and half weeks has taken its toll.

Just on the other side of the Greens from the Mad River Valley, we have been hit by a series of violent storms that have left drainage ditches overflowing and crops smothered under repeated bursts of 1″-3″ of water.

We have received 10.2″ of rain since May 30th (we average about 4″-5″ per month in the summer at our farm), and certain crops are worse for the wear, namely our baby spinach.  We hope to get into undamaged plantings by next week or the following week.  Luckily for Muddy Boots members, Aaron has fared much better than us this spring and will keep you stocked with salad greens once again.

Despite the persistent rain, certain crops are looking great.  We grow our sweet potatoes on super tall raised beds covered with plastic mulch.  Sweet potatoes are completely intolerant of soggy soils, so this tall bed allows excess water to flow off the beds and away from the roots.  In springs like this it is absolutely essential to have these beds.

In fact, all the rain has actually helped the sweet potatoes, by keeping the soil immediately around the plants’ stems consistently moistened, which really helps the roots get established after transplanting.

In other, more positive news, our onions and potatoes look great, and we have a greenhouse full of beautiful cherry tomatoes.  We hope to start sending over some of those by early July.  They tease this time of year, sitting on the vine, green, for what seems like months.